Coinbase fails to hire Vitalik Buterin 12 years ago partly due to visa issue, says CEO Armstrong

In a recent update on X, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong revealed that he first met Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin at the San Jose Bitcoin conference in 2013, when Buterin was writing for Bitcoin Magazine. A few months later, Armstrong invited Buterin to visit Coinbase's first office in San Francisco. After Buterin's demonstration of "some cool stuff on his laptop," he received recruitment invitations from Armstrong and some other Coinbase executives. However, due to a variety of reasons, including his inability to obtain a work visa in the U.S., Buterin had to return to Canada. While stuck in Canada, Buterin created Ethereum. "So, in a way, the sub-optimal immigration system in the U.S. contributed to the creation of Ethereum," said Armstrong. In the final part of the post, the Coinbase CEO also showed congratulations on the 10th anniversary of Ethereum.